Who controls the territory and the resources? Free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) as a contested human rights practice in Bolivia

The article scrutinises the struggles over prior consultation and free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) and analyses the divergent interpretations of what this right would entail in Bolivia. Similar contestations have played an important role in resource conflicts across Latin America. Using rich empirical data, the article discusses (1) disputes over legal norms regulating this participatory right, (2) related claims to territorial control and resource sovereignty, and (3) consultation participants’ constrained influence. In doing so, it focuses on the Guaraní’s diverse attempts to shape consultation processes and their outcomes according to their own ends and shows how many of these initiatives have been curtailed.